Mothering on the edge: exploring maternal anger through feminist psychoanalysis and socio-ecological inequities of two mothers in urban India

Introduction: Maternal anger, an intense and often stigmatized emotional experience, has been associated with postpartum mood and anxiety disorders. This biomedical lens obscures its relational and sociocultural roots and remains understudied in psychological and sociological literature, especially from a qualitative stance contextualised in an LMIC. Drawing on Benjamin's feminist psychoanalytic theory and Bronfenbrenner's social-ecological model, this study explores maternal anger as a meaningful, biopsychosocial response to relational ruptures and systemic inequities in an Indian context. Methods: Vignettes of two urban Indian mothers from diverse backgrounds were chosen to present their lived experiences with maternal anger. Their in-depth, semi-structured interviews were analyzed using the Interpretive Phenomenological Approach. Results: A relational-intersubjective lens guided attention to mutual recognition/ruptures and affective attunement/misattunement, while the social-ecological model mapped influences across the nested systems. The first theme that emerged was Experience of Anger in Relational Qualms, which included the sub-themes of Betrayal and Abandonment in Intimate Relationships and Erasure of their Personhood. The second theme, Socio-cultural Experience of Anger, consisted of Emotional Burden of the Care and Lack of Support, Suppression and Silence, and Intergenerational Scripts. Conclusion: Reconceptualising maternal anger at the intersection of interpersonal and systemic pressures reframes it from pathology to protest. It becomes an embodied critique of relational, gendered and systemic inequities and calls for perinatal mental health interventions that honor mothers' emotional realities. By depathologizing maternal anger, the lived experiences of the two urban Indian mothers contribute novel insights to maternal mental health and underscore the necessity of feminist, context-sensitive approaches in research and care.